Sport

WAFL: West Perth in good spirits heading into penultimate bye

THERE is a good vibe at the club at the moment heading into our penultimate bye of the season.

The players are working hard on and off the field and it’s showed with some consistent performances leaving us breathing space in third spot.

The new facility, new staff and coaches, has added to the atmosphere.

But we’re well aware we’ve still got ground to make up against the top two sides Subiaco and South Fremantle.

We should have been further ahead early in the game against East Fremantle at East Fremantle Oval last Saturday.

They remained in the contest after half-time and got ahead of us in the third quarter.

Our leaders stood up from that point and it felt like we should have won by a lot more than 30 points, given we kicked 15.15.

The squad should be looking fairly healthy after the bye.

Nathan Alexandre and Jordan Mills missed the Sharks match but are expected to return for our next clash against Swan Districts. We expect Connor West to return from a broken finger but it might be another week.

Disappointingly, veteran Matt Guadagnin injured his hamstring again after a collision in the reserves game.

It is expected to be a multiple-week recovery.

It’s a cruel blow for him because he had been working into form in the reserves. He has played just one senior game since 2015 when he injured his knee and required a reconstruction.